2005
Isabel paced back and forth across the living room of her house. She stopped suddenly as the front door opened and Max and Michael walked in.
Max hung his head in shame as he stared at Isabel with tears in his eyes, "Isabel, I'm so sorry..."
"Sorry?" Isabel laughed a little, "Max, what could you possibly be... " She quickly looked at the door, then at Michael, who's eyes were looking anywhere but at her. Isabel turned to Michael, "Michael... where's... where's Alex? Where is he?" She started to cry. Michael reached out to hold her hand. She looked at him with daggers in her eyes, and he pulled away.
"He's...he was shot, Isabel. I'm sorry," Michael began. "There was nothing..."
"He's dead! Are you telling me that he's dead ?!?" Isabel screamed," How did he die? Why weren't you watching out for him? You know that he thinks he can do anything! He doesn't have the gifts you do! What's wrong with you?"
Max hung his head in shame, "I'm sorry. We didn't know that he'd come with us."
Isabel's anger was barely under control. "BULL! You...knew...you knew that he went!" She was openly crying, "We were...we were supposed to get married next month! You knew he went..." She started to wobble and was about to faint, but Michael reached out to steady her. "No, we didn't," he said, soothingly. "Why are you angry with us? We didn't know. I swear to you, we didn't know." Since he didn't do sad well, all of his emotions turned to anger, "You know that we would protect him!"
2007"I just can't believe she's gone. I should have been there." Max said, sitting on the sofa in Isabel's house. His head was in his arms as he tried not to cry.
Isabel calmly rubbed his back to smooth him and said, "There's nothing you could have done. Liz chose to go shopping that day. It wasn't your fault that Sam's was held up...I heard that she was very brave. Getting crayons for the little children, soothing the older ones, keeping everyone calm."
"And they shot her for it. It's not fair."
"I know it's not fair," she said, trying to keep her emotions under control, for Max's sake. "Nothing is...But, she'll always be with you. She'll live in you. She'd want you to move on."
2008
"She's gone, Michael. There's nothing you could have done. "
Michael babbled," I...I left her. She never knew how I felt...and now she's gone...I should've stopped her."
Isabel thought for a moment, "How could you have known?"
Michael didn't even register the fact that someone else was in the room. "I should've known. I mean, why would she even own a gun? Maria would have never bought a gun. She never would have shot herself...if only I'd told her how I felt..."
Isabel tried to soothe the hurt, but she knew that it would never go away. "I know. But, we can't change the past, now can we? What's done is done. There was nothing you could have done."
2010
"Let's go! He's going to be here soon." Isabel yelled.
Michael walked into the kitchen, "Coming, dear."
Isabel snapped, "Don't you 'dear' me! I never wanted to marry you!" Her cheeks flushed as soon as she saw the hurt look that flashed in Michael's eyes. It was true, she didn't want to marry him, but he didn't want to marry her, either. And he had no problem telling her that.
"And you think I threw a party when I married you?" They both looked into each other's eyes and his voice softened, "We both know that our hearts lie somewhere else. But, let's not let that ruin the reunion."
"Reunion!?!" Isabel challenged him, "How can it be a reunion if we aren't going to be reunited with them?"
"Hey!" Michael said, covering up his sadness as if it were something to be ashamed of, "You're not the only ones who lost someone, ya know. Max lost Liz and I lost Maria. Can you imagine how we must feel?"
"Yes," she said in an almost inaudible whisper, "I do it every day."
The doorbell rang and as Michael went to answer it, Isabel finished straightening up the kitchen. She stopped only when she heard Michael choke out, "Honey...he's here."
As Isabel made her way over to the door, she noticed that Max was standing inside her foyer She greeted him with a big hug and smile, then turned to the girl next to him, "Tess," the smile turned into a small frown, but was back in place before it could be noticed, "Please, come in. Long time, no see. So, how is everything? Max, we didn't know you were bringing Tess."
Max seems happy as he answers her that everything has been just fine, then seeing no other way to say it, he blurts out the worst possible thing he could, "Tess and I have decided to get married."
Isabel stands there, stunned for a moment, but quickly composes herself," M...m...m...married? But...but what about...?" She stopped suddenly as Michael elbowed her in the side. He, of course, let it pass by him with out a twitch, "Congratulations."
Tess held out her hand, showing off the beautiful diamond ring. Isabel knew that it was the ring that Max had planned on giving to Liz, but she didn't say anything.
"We're getting married in a week." Tess said, smiling. Then she turned to Isabel. "Will you be my Maid of Honor?"
Although she didn't want to, Isabel agreed, for Max's sake. ''Sure, Tess, whatever you want."
"Michael," Max began, "Will you..."
Michael waved the question away, "Of course I will... Let's go into the living room to catch up." Tess and Max started to follow Michael into the living room, but stopped when they realized that Isabel wasn't following them. "Honey?" Michael turned to her, "you coming?"
Isabel snapped out of her trance. "What? Oh, yeah. Go ahead. I'll be there in a minute." Seeing that they were making no effort to move even an inch, she waved her hand in a shooing motion and repeated, "I'll be there in a minute." But, as soon as they were settled, she turned and went into the kitchen, mumbling the whole way. "I could kick myself for giving him that advice. 'She'd want you to move on.' God, what was I thinking?" She picked up the knife that was out on the counter. "This should do." she said, slipping it up and into her sleeve.
"Isabel! Come on. Come in here," Max called.
Isabel gracefully walked into the living room, playing with her sleeve the whole time "Hey, guys? Can you go out and get some burger meat and some buns? I just noticed that we were out."
Michael looked at his wife, "Sure...come on, Max." He grabbed their coats and they left.
"You'll have to excuse me," Tess said," I have to go to the bathroom." She didn't get five feet before she turned around again, ''Where is it?"
Isabel was in a daze. "Up the stairs, second door to the left." As soon as Tess was up the steps, Isabel smiled insanely. ''Now, my love, we can be together," she said, making two very precise cuts on each of her arms.
"Isabel?" Tess called, "Isabel? Where do you keep the...Ohmigod! Isabel! Isabel!" Tess ran down the stairs, grabbing her cell phone from her pocket on the way. She hit star 1 as soon as she realized what Isabel had done. "Max, ohmigod, Max, you've got to get over here...What do you mean why...Isabel...she...she cut herself...really bad...no, I'm not joking...just...get over here...hurry." She threw the phone away from her as she knelt down and placed Isabel's head in her lap.
Michael burst threw the door only to find Tess kneeling over Isabel, holding her hand. "Isabel...what the... Isabel!" He ripped her from Tess' grasp. "Com'on, Isabel," he said, cradling her against him, "you've gotta wake up."
"She's gone, Michael." Max said, joining his side, "There's nothing you can do..."
Michael remembered the last time that he had heard those words. "Noooo!" he screamed.
"Michael, pull yourself together."
"The...the Healing Stones, Maxwell. We have to use the healing stones."
"Michael," Tess said, "do you really think Isabel would want to be healed?"
Michael looked at Max. He knew that Tess was right. Izzy hadn't been herself since Alex had died. The only way to have the old Izzy back was to let her go. "You're right," he told Tess," Come on, let's go. We'll figure out what to do tomorrow." And, with that, Max, Michael, and Tess walked out of the house, closing the door behind them and letting Isabel do what she needed to do.
Isabel's eyes shot open and she stood up. She looked at her arms and noticed that the cuts on her arms were gone. She knew she was dead. "Alex!" she called out as she noticed three figures slowly walking toward her. Alex ran to embrace her, followed by Maria and Liz. "You'll see them soon," she promised the girls as Alex took her hand and led her to heaven.